"I must have it large, pretentious, in keeping with the environment, with the Heights, with the great ocean itself..."

-- Adolph Sutro, Engineer, Philanthropist, Mayor of San Francisco

Sutro Baths, Interior, ca. 1904

But it is the swimming -- and the scratchy wool bathing suits -- that San Franciscans and visitors who experience the joys of Sutro Baths will remember most.

"All around the echoing, enveloping sound of splash and laughter and shouts, the close feel of heat and high humidity, the engrossing smell compounded of saltwater, dampness, wet cloth, human bodies and frying hot dogs"